God's Gift
by Carnage
Summary: Alright, not good at summaries. Or stories, for that matter. Um, a stranger arrives on Andromeda in spectacular fashion, with a devastating message for Trance.


Andromeda - God's Gift  
  
Hello everyone. I know, I am starting stories when I haven't finished others, but I'm getting all my ideas out now. Disclaimer: Andromeda is not mine, nor are any of the lovely babes that inhabit her, so I earn nada with this, and I gain no credit over the show, either. The only thing I would LIKE to gain is any of the babes on Andromeda. Just one, would be really nice, Mr Script Writers. Pretty please. All nice and legal. Hopefully.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"When life throws you a bone, grab it and run like hell. If you can't, then at least return it with slobber attached." Phynirian High Priest, 2087. P.S. If anybody wants the meaning of this, just email me(  
  
The day started like any other aboard Andromeda. Well, almost any other, from Harper's point of view. He woke up, had a shower, hummed a little as he got dressed, realised he didn't have privacy mode on, activated it, deactivated it when he realised he was leaving anyway, then went to fix any of the minor problems, or major, depending on the events of the day before. This day was a little different.  
  
He whistled as he walked down the corridor. Of course, he was trying not to focus on the hours of drudgery and oil and grease and electric shocks he would get from Rommie if he pressed the wrong buttons. Now that he thought about it, tilting his head as he did when he thought about things, Rommie was much like taking a lady on a date. You got oily and sweaty, you worked for long periods with no respite and no congratulations, and you got seriously fried if you did the wrong thing. What happened next was totally unexpected.  
  
Rommie's avatar walked through an intersection ahead of him, then froze like she did when she received new information. Then she turned quickly on her heel and moved towards him. She gripped his arm and dragged him along, as she said, "You're coming with me to the bridge." Her tone brooked no argument.  
  
"Look, Rommie-babe," he said, holding his arms up in the air in defeat, breaking Rommie's hold on him, "I would gladly come with you anywhere, but do you not think the bridge is a bit - public?"  
  
Rommie gave him a withering look as they strode along to the bridge. "Even for you, Harper, that was bad. And for it, I'm going to tell Beka exactly what you sang about her and Tyr in the shower this morning." She grinned at his 'Oh-Please-Don't' face.  
  
"Come on, Rommie! Beka would kill me! And Tyr would grind my bones to make his bread! Anyway," he grinned at her smugly, "How would you like it if I told Dylan that you were breaching protocol, Hmm? Or that you were even looking? He might get jealous," he finished with a wry smile.  
  
She just grinned coldly at him, then snorted. "Dylan hardly has any reason to be jealous. He is a High Guard Captain after all, and he has no personal feelings for me whatsoever." The And that's the end of that conversation suitably hung in the air. Harper didn't miss it, or the glare she gave him, and wisely kept his mouth shut until they reached the bridge.  
  
The bridge was in havoc. Droids were dashing everywhere, and at first all Harper thought that Rommie wanted was a good re-wiring. But on closer inspection, the droids were actually placing box-shaped objects in neat stacks in corners of the room. Each one had a large stamp on it, saying "Common Wealth survival training gear". Harper looked moderately surprised, then glanced at Rommie, who was grinning at him. Dylan saw him, and started making his way through the droids.  
  
"Hey, Rommie," he said instantly, smiled at her, then turned to Harper. "Okay, Harper, since neither you, Beka, Trance or Tyr have ever have ever trained as Common Wealth.associates," he chose his words carefully, trying to avoid the word "soldiers", "I have decided that this week, since we have nothing planned, we can go to a hostile planet and try and survive there. Ah, and here's the crew now." He grinned as Beka and Tyr were pushed through the door. "Beka, Tyr, lovely to see you, ready for a trip?"  
  
"What kind of a trip?" Beka asked hesitantly, glancing at the rushing droids. Tyr just growled, which made Beka grin at him.  
  
"Survival kind." If Dylan's grin got any wider, he wouldn't have a face, but rather two halves of one.  
  
"Where's Trance?" Rommie started to say, "She's -" When Dylan cut her off and said, "Great, not the shower again. She loves those things. Anyway," he said as he picked a box off a droid moving past and shifted through the contents, "We are going to try survival training as Common Wealth -"  
  
"Soldiers," Harper finished quickly, and grinned smugly at Dylan's glare.  
  
"On a hostile planet, which we will all find enjoyable and relaxing," Dylan finished.  
  
"'Hostile' and 'enjoyable' are two words I generally do not associate together," Tyr snorted.  
  
"Well, I'm the Captain, you're my crew and I say you should get to your quarters and get ready. Move!" he shouted. When they left, he moved to go to his own quarters, with a casual, "Rommie, repeat this to Trance, please, Thank You," chucked over his shoulder.  
  
Rommie stood on the bridge, alone. Then her hologram appeared, and said sarcastically what she had been thinking:  
  
"Hello, Dylan. How are you? I'm fine! Lovely weather we're having." She shook her head. "Maybe two words in the whole conversation. What are you, voice-box impaired?"  
  
Then the klaxons sounded for red alert.  
  
Everyone immediately rushed to the bridge, Harper arriving first.  
  
"Why, my big blue-haired babe, I do believe you do not want to go?" he said with his best puppy-dog expression. He usually tried this look not to get kicked, which Rommie and her hologram both looked ready to do. Then he dropped to his knees, and quickly said,  
  
"ThankyouThankyouThankyou!" and kissed her feet, and so she let it go.  
  
"Get up, Harper, these are my best boots," she said to his bowed head. "And anyway, it's a real alert."  
  
"Rommie! What's happening?" Dylan shouted, rushing in to the bridge and rushing to a console.  
  
"No need to shout, Captain," Rommie said smugly. "It's not us directly, but I am reading weapons fire five hundred metres off the port bow."  
  
"What can I shoot?" Tyr asked slowly as he strutted to the weapons controls. Beka followed him to the flight seat.  
  
"At the moment, the ship being fired upon is a small vessel, not much bigger than this room, while the attacker is a Nitzchean battleship."  
  
Dylan looked at his controls. "Why such a powerful ship for one vessel?" he asked.  
  
"While I am not reading any weapons onboard, heavy damage and two hull breaches, the small vessel appears to be firing energy discharges." A blast rocked the ship. "Large ones at that."  
  
"Rommie, contact both ships. Tell them we do not want a confrontation, and we are caught in the cross-fire!" he said.  
  
"Big mistake," Tyr muttered.  
  
"Done," Rommie said, with a tilt of her head. "No response."  
  
Another blast rocked the ship, knocking Harper over. "The smaller ship is hailing us. Whatever it's weapons, they're now offline."  
  
"Help!" A static-filled image took up half the screen with tactical details on the other side.  
  
"Who are -" Dylan was cut off by large explosions in the background.  
  
"Listen, just get these guys off my tail! Anything! I just need -" the message spiralled into gibberish.  
  
"Connection lost." Rommie's eyes widened. "He's jumped ship!"  
  
Harper and Beka looked at her. "WHAT?!"  
  
"He's jumped out through one of the hull -" Rommie paused as the screen filled with a white light.  
  
"His ship has just self-destructed, and the Nitzchean ship has jumped into slipstream." She noticed the crestfallen look on Dylan's face. "Sorry, Dylan."  
  
He waved her off. "Not your fault." He started for the exit.  
  
"At least you have training!" she shouted after him, earning daggers from Harper. He didn't seem to hear her though.  
  
"Oh, dear," she muttered.  
  
Walking through a corridor, humming an old classic, Harper was astonished to see a man push through the deck wall. He fell to the floor, dazed, then dusted himself off and looked at Harper, who had just done the same.  
  
"Rommie! INTRUDER!" he screamed, remembering what happened the last time people jumped through walls.  
  
"Internal defences activated," her voice echoed.  
  
"No, you fool!" shouted the man in front of him, reaching for Harper.  
  
Unfortunately, Rommie saw this as a threat, and shot him repeatedly. Harper watched his jerking rhythms in horror, and felt horrible as the lasers pushed him up against a wall. They stopped firing, and Harper started apologising, not quite realising how dead the man would be.  
  
He hit the wall, still jerking. Blood poured out of his mouth and the several holes in his chest, and he looked down to the basketball-sized hole through his stomach. He glared at Harper.  
  
"Harper, you are a JACKASS!" he shouted as he collapsed on the deck, dead.  
  
What do you think so far, hmm? Reviews! 


End file.
